In recent years, a wide variety of dry carpet cleaning and deodorizing compositions have become available. One such composition is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,161,449, and comprises a blend of an inorganic salt carrier, an agglomerating agent such as starch, fragrance and optional amounts of an anti-static agent. In compositions such as those disclosed in U.S. Published Application No. B433,707, and in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,434,067, 4,194,993 and French Pat. No. 2,015,972 the inorganic carrier salt is wholly or partially replaced by dry porous polymeric particles, which can function as absorbent carriers for cleaning solutions.
Although these compositions are designed to clean carpeting and leave a residue of fragrance or anti-static agent behind, they suffer from a number of disadvantages. In the first place, the use of fine particles of carrier salts or fragmented polymeric substances can lead to unacceptably high amounts of residual dust in and on the carpeting. This dust can soil shoes and clothing and give dark carpeting an unacceptable frosted look. Although dusting can be reduced by the addition of dedusting agents such as mineral oil and glycol ethers, such agents tend to promote the adherence of soil to carpet fibers and counteract the cleaning and anti-soil properties of the powdered compositions. In the second place, agglomerating agents such as starch, flour or talc are often employed to prevent undue scattering or "bounce" of the carrier and to promote even coverage upon application of the product to the carpeting. Such agents are disadvantageous since they also act to promote clumping of the powdered product in the storage container, thus hampering its delivery, e.g. by sprinkling it from a perforated shaker. Finally, the dry-type products presently on the market which incorporate inorganic carrier salts cannot be used on damp or wet carpeting, such as that soiled by excreta, rainwater or food spills, since the salts partially dissolve and cake into a solid mass. Liquid-loaded plastic beads may be less severely affected by moisture, but since they are intended to deliver cleaning fluids to dry carpeting, they are ineffective in the presence of moisture.
Therefore a need exists for a particulate carpet cleaning composition which exhibits an affinity for both dry and wet soils, and which can deliver effective amounts of carpet conditioning and deodorizing adjuvants. Such a composition should also be easy to apply to the soiled carpeting and readily removable without dusting on dry carpeting or caking on wet carpeting.